News

CD release: 5 modern works by living composers

In September 2014 we were invited to record our second album at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. At first this might sound completely random – ‘Lethbridge?’ People say with wide-eyed disbelief – ‘you travelled all the way from Europe to Lethbridge to record?’ – but in fact there is a very logical explanation: our excellent sound designer/composer Thilo Schaller is professor at the university and teaches in their amazing newly refurbished recording studio. To be honest Thilo is a real inspiration: not only is he impressively knowledgeable, technically proficient beyond measure, with great communication/negociation skills (think 4 highly strung musicians, 12 hour days in the studio, playing super challenging modern music…) but he is also a fantastically creative composer. We are truly blessed to work with him.

The upside to travelling all the way to Lethbridge is that Canada, and specifically Alberta, is incredibly beautiful. After 4 intensive days recording we played concerts and led masterclasses in and around the Universities of Lethbridge and Calgary, meeting and working with wonderfully enthusiastic students. It would be a crime to visit Alberta and not get booted up and venture out into the rockies, so after the hard work was done we set off for Banff and Lake Louise. We hiked up mountains releasing all the tension accumulated through the time-pressured recording process and completely immersed ourselves in nature. When working on such an intense project it’s easy to get fully wound up in your little bubble of, in this case, crazy modern music. This was the perfect adventure to regain some perspective from high up in the clouds, to see just how small we all really are in the grand scheme of things… The Canadians love to tell tales of the wild beasts of the forests. We were puzzled to find that when you actually ask what to do when you bump into a bear in the wilderness, they tend to look thoughtfully and go “hmmmmm?”. Curious. Anyhow, we set out equipped with bear spray and our eyes-peeled, but it wasn’t until the three of us left that Greta and Thilo caught sight of a grizzly!

The CD release

We are incredibly grateful to the University of Lethbridge for their generous support in the recording of this project. Now the time has come to release the CD which involves teaming up with a label (this is no mean feat nowadays, especially for a classical saxophone quartet!) We are absolutely delighted that the German label Encora is keen to release our album, but for this dream to become a reality we need to raise funds for the production, design, printing and release. The five works featured on the CD are pieces which we have chosen with great consideration. Two of the works – by Charlotte Bray and Thilo Schaller – were commissioned by Sirocco and the other three are pieces to which we feel strongly connected. They contrast and compliment each other, they explore the diverse characteristics and colours of the saxophone and we dream to share this original, exciting music with you all.

Our Kickstarter fundraising campaign

On Monday 20th April 2015 we plan to launch our Kickstarter campaign to raise money for our CD release. We hope many of you will be inspired to support us, with as little or as much as you can. Honestly, every penny helps!

We believe in this music. These are five fantastic, original, composers who deserve wider recognition.